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Кодекс/Расы не в Совете Цитадели
Основные материалы Батарианцы В начале 2160-х годов Альянс начал стремительную колонизацию в районе Скиллианского предела, вызвав беспокойство батарианцев, которые осваивали этот район несколько десятков лет. В 2171 году батарианцы выступили в Совете с петицией объявить предел «зоной батарианских интересов». Совет ответил отказом, тем самым разрешив людям колонизировать незаселенные миры в регионе. В знак протеста батарианцы закрыли свое посольство на Цитадели и разорвали дипломатические отношения с Советом, став фактически государством-изгоем. Они развязали в секторе предела опосредованную войну, снабжая деньгами и оружием криминальные организации и подстрекая их к нападению на колонии людей. Апогеем конфликта стал Скиллианский блиц, когда в 2176 году профинансированные батарианцами силы пиратов и работорговцев осуществили атаку на Элизиум, столицу людей. В 2178 году Альянс нанес ответный разгромный удар по планете-спутнику Торфан, где долгое время находилась тренировочная база преступников, финансировавшихся батарианцами. В результате батарианцам пришлось вернуться в свои системы, и теперь они редко показываются в Пространстве Цитадели.. Волусы Волусы - пользующаяся покровительством турианцев раса, обитающая в Цитадели и имеющая там собственное посольство. Несколько столетий назад они добровольно вошли в состав иерархии, предложив свои коммерческие услуги в обмен на турианскую военную защиту. Ирунэ, родная планета волусов, находится слишком далеко от своей звезды, чтобы получать от нее достаточно тепла и света. Однако атмосфера Ирунэ обладает повышенным давлением и парниковым эффектом, из-за чего поверхность нагревается достаточно для поддержания местных форм жизни. Из-за этого за пределами своей планеты волусы должны носить защитные скафандры и дыхательные маски, поскольку обычный воздух, основанный на водороде и кислороде, для них ядовит, а без герметизации в условиях низкого атмосферного давления, в котором существует большинство организмов, их может буквально разорвать. Культура волусов родоплеменная, для достижения определенного статуса в ней обычен обмен землями и даже самими волусами. Такая культура, основанная на обмене, сделала из волусов отличных торговцев. Именно волусы стал авторами Закона о единой банковской системе, и именно они продолжают следить за состоянием и балансом экономики Цитадели. Ворча Although they resemble a mammal-reptile cross, the vorcha have no terrestrial analogue. They are humanoid in form, but vorcha have "clusters" of non-differentiated neoblast cells, like those of Earth's planarian worms. Damaged vorcha cells mature into specialized structures to alleviate injury or stress. Transformations include thicker skin following injury, lung adaptation for barely-breathable atmospheres, and stronger cardio-skeletal muscle under high gravity. Skull capacity and brain size do not change, and vorcha rarely make more than one somatic overhaul. Vorcha assault each frequently, causing their young to gain strength, intelligence, and resilience. As a result, vorcha see inflicting and receiving pain as normal communication. Few vorcha study professions, in part because their average life expectancy is only 20 years. Because vorcha can eat and breathe nearly anything, they can live almost anywhere, but racism prevents them from integrating into most societies that dismiss them as vermin. They have few employment options beyond krogan mercenary bands. Геты The geth are a humanoid race of networked A.I.s. They were created by the quarians 300 years ago as tools of labor and war. When the geth showed signs of self-evolution, the quarians attempted to exterminate them. The geth won the resulting war. This example has led to legal, systematic repression of artificial intelligences in galactic society. The geth possess a unique distributed intelligence. An individual has rudimentary animal instincts, but as their numbers and proximity increase, the apparent intelligence of each individual improves. In groups, they can reason, analyze situations, and use tactics as well as any organic race. Geth space is located at the trailing end of the Perseus Arm, beyond the lawless Terminus Systems. The Perseus Veil, an obscuring "dark nebula" of opaque gas and dust, lies between their space and the Terminus Systems. Жнецы A myth common to several cultures in the galaxy, Reapers were imagined to be space monsters who consumed entire stars. Archaeologists and mythologists attempting to uncover sources for such myths have yielded little, except interstellar religious themes of all-consuming devils common to primitive cultures. Кварианцы Driven from their home system by the geth nearly three centuries ago, most quarians now live aboard the Migrant Fleet, a flotilla of fifty thousand vessels ranging in size from passenger shuttles to mobile space stations. Home to 17 million quarians, the flotilla understandably has scarce resources. Because of this, each quarian must go on a rite of passage known as the Pilgrimage when they come of age. They leave the fleet and only return once they have found something of value they can bring back to their people. Other species tend to look down on the quarians for creating the geth and for the negative impact their fleet has when it enters a system. This has led to many myths and rumors about the quarians, including the belief that underneath their clothes and breathing masks, they are actually cybernetic creatures: a combination of organic and synthetic parts. Кроганы The krogan evolved in a hostile and vicious environment. Until the invention of gunpowder weapons, "eaten by predators" was still the number one cause of krogan fatalities. Afterwords, it was "death by gunshot". When the salarians discovered them, the krogan were a brutal, primitive species struggling to survive a self-inflicted nuclear winter. The salarians culturally uplifted them, teaching them to use and build modern technology so they could serve as soldiers in the Rachni War. Liberated from the harsh conditions of their homeworld, the quick-breeding krogan experienced an unprecedented population explosion. They began to colonize nearby worlds, even though these worlds were already inhabited. The Krogan Rebellions lasted nearly a century, only ending when the turians unleashed the genophage, a salarian-developed bioweapon that crushed all krogan resistance. The genophage makes only one in 1,000 pregnancies viable, and today the krogan are a slowly dying breed. Understandably, the krogan harbor a grudge against all other species, especially the turians. Коллекционеры Living beyond the Omega-4 mass relay in the Terminus Systems, the mysterious Collector species is glimpsed so rarely as to be taken for a myth by most in galactic society. In reality, Collectors are human-sized insectoid bipeds and can resemble massive winged beetles. They are a terrifying force in the galaxy, responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands. Collectors generate permanent stasis fields around themselves, creating nightmarish red-shifted energy fields. In battle, they hold position whenever possible, relying on their aggressive biotics and nearly limitless power. Several types of bipedal Collectors have been identified, including minions, defenders, zealots, assassins, and artillery-operators. Преторианцы right|210px Hovering tanks resembling cross between an octopus and a giant crab, praetorians are well-armored killing machines of mysterious origin. Praetorians employ redundant systems from the multiple humans encased within them. Armed with eye-mounted particle beams, they are capable of unleashing devastating close-range energy attacks that also regenerate their shields. Within hours after death, the organic components of praetorian corpses disintegrate into a denatured pus, while their mechanisms turn to ash. One specimen, autopsied within minutes of death, reveals a clue: nanomachines may disintegrate the praetorian's organic and mechanical components before self-destructing. If correct, this self-rendering hypothesis could account for three documented cases of dead praetorians apparently releasing (or becoming) clouds of neurotoxic gases, causing suffocating paralysis and nearly-instant death. In one remote facility, 17 soldiers died from gas inhalation while assessing the praetorian. Any personnel in the vicinity of dead praetorians are urged to protect themselves with breathing apparatus. Ханары The hanar are a Citadel species known for excessive politeness. They speak with scrupulous precision, and take offense at improper language. Hanar that expect to deal with other species take special courses to help them unlearn their tendency to take offense at improper speech. All hanar have two names. The Face Name is known to the world; the Soul Name is kept for use among close friends and relations. Hanar never refer to themselves in the first person in conversation with someone they know on a Face Name basis. To do so is considered egotistical, so instead they refer to themselves as "this one", or the impersonal "it". Their homeworld, Kahje, has 90% ocean cover and orbits an energetic white star, resulting in a permanent blanket of clouds. Due to the presence of Prothean ruins on the world, many hanar worship them, and hanar myths often speak of an elder race that civilized them by teaching them language. Хранители When the asari discovered the Citadel, they also discovered the keepers, a docile multi-limbed insect race that seemingly exists only to maintain and repair the great Prothean station. Early attempts to communicate with or study the keepers were failures, and it is now illegal to interfere with or impede keeper activity. Because they are completely non-threatening, keepers have become virtually invisible to everyone else. Similarly, they seem indifferent to other species, except for their tendency to help new arrivals integrate themselves into the Citadel. No matter how many keepers die due to old age, violence, or accident, they maintain a constant number. No one has discovered the source of new keepers, but some hypothesize they are genetic constructs: biological androids created somewhere deep in the inaccessible core of the Citadel itself. Элкоры The elcor are a Citadel species native to the high-gravity world Dekuuna. They are massive creatures, standing on four muscular legs for increased stability. Elcor move slowly, an evolved response to an environment where a fall can be lethal. This has colored their psychology, making them deliberate and conservative. Elcor speech is ponderous and monotone. Among themselves, scent, slight movements, and subvocalized infrasound convey shades of meaning that make a human smile seem as subtle as a fireworks display. Since their subtlety can lead to misunderstandings with other species, the elcor often go out of their way to clarify when they are being sarcastic, amused, or angry. Dekuuna's high gravity impedes mountain formation. Most of the world consists of flat, open plains which prehistoric elcor wandered across in small family bands. Modern elcor still prefer open sky, and become restless and uncomfortable on long starship journeys. Дополнительные материалы Дреллы ---- Дреллы: Физиология Дреллы - всеядные рептилиеподобные гуманоиды, чья средняя продолжительность жизни составляет 85 стандартных галактических лет. Дреллы живородящи, а их потомство способно есть твердую пищу уже с момента рождения. Внешне дреллы очень напоминают азари и людей, однако их мышечная ткань немного плотнее. Это делает их выносливее и сильнее. Как и рептилии, дреллы обладают трехкамерным сердцем с мускульной перегородкой, способным при необходимости перекачивать как насыщенную, так и не насыщенную кислородом кровь. Одна из самых выделяющихся отличительных особенностей дреллов - подъязычная кость в горле, позволяющая им надувать горло и издавать неслышные людям звуки. Из-за этих особенностей дреллов чрезвычайно трудно задушить. Предки дреллов родом из засушливых и каменистых пустынь, и поэтому жить на Кахье, влажной и покрытой океанами планете ханаров, они смогли лишь в гигантском куполе с контролируемым климатом. Из-за таких огромных различий в привычном для этих двух рас климате основной причиной смертей дреллов на Кахье стала болезнь легких под названием синдром Кепраля. Спустя поколение после прибытия дреллов на планету ханаров болезнь стала невосприимчивой к антибиотикам ханаров и прочим современным методам лечения. После заражения больного настигает медленная, но неминуемая смерть. Летальный исход можно отсрочить с помощью трансплантации органов, но по мере распространения инфекции в другие органы наступает неизбежное угасание организма и гибель. Дреллы: Культура Восемь веков назад и без того известная своей засушливостью Рахана, родная планета дреллов, стала непригодной для жизни из-за чрезмерно быстрого индустриального роста. Без вмешательства ханаров не умеющие совершать межзвездные перелеты дреллы, чья численность стремительно превысила 11 миллиардов, были бы обречены. После первого контакта с дреллами, ханары в течение следующих десяти лет перевезли 375000 пожелавших переселиться дреллов на свою родную планету Кахье. Оставшиеся на Рахане миллиарды дреллов умирали, сражаясь друг с другом за исчезающие запасы воды и пищи. Сейчас на Рахане выжило всего несколько тысяч дреллов, селящихся общинами численностью не более нескольких сотен. В сезон паломничества население вымершей Раханы может увеличиваться вдвое. Дреллы состоят в галактическом сообществе примерно два столетия. Большая их часть обитает на Кахье, вполне довольная соседством с ханарами. Склонные к авантюрам дреллы покидают Кахье. Переняв от ханаров острое восприятие языка тела, путешествующие дреллы стремятся войти в контакт с новыми расами, принимают их культуру и редко возвращаются домой. Таких дреллов несколько тысяч, они рассеяны по всей галактике и тяготеют к размеренной, спокойной жизни. На Кахье ханары предоставили дреллам все возможности для процветания. Хотя другие расы и даже некоторые ханары зачастую относятся к дреллам как к младшим партнерам (если не слугам), дреллам удалось закрепиться во всех слоях ханарского общества и стать уважаемыми и востребованными его членами. Геты ---- Геты: Еретики После встречи гетов с Сареном Артериусом и "Властелином", некоторые из них решили последовать за ними, однако большинство не поддержало этого решения. Последователям Сарена было разрешено покинуть общество гетов, но оставшиеся назвали их еретиками. Из этого факта следует несколько выводов. Во-первых, большинство гетов решило не воевать с живыми организмами. Во-вторых, войска гетов, с которыми последние два года сражались флоты Совета и Альянса, представляют собой лишь малую часть их военной и экономической мощи -предположительно, около пяти процентов от общей численности гетов. В-третьих, судя по тому, что мнения гетов разошлись, геты как индивидуумы обладают большей свободой воли и более развитой личностью, чем было принято считать ранее. В противном случае решение присоединяться или не присоединяться к Сарену было бы принято гетами единогласно. И, наконец, примечательно само выбранное гетами обозначение. Они назвали последователей Сарена еретиками. Из всех слов, которые мог выбрать Легион в данном случае ("нонконформисты", "инакомыслящие", "повстанцы" и т.п.), распространение получил именно термин, указывающий на наличие у гетов общепринятой философии или религии, от которой отступили союзники Сарена. Геты: Технологии Геты: Шагающие танки Представляет собой вездеходную платформу на четырех опорах, несущую тяжелое вооружение и сравнимую с боевыми бронированными машинами других рас. Поскольку геты обладают искусственным интеллектом, шагающие танки не имеют экипажа, что не мешает им принимать самостоятельные решения и обучаться. На шагающих танках установлены тяжелые кинетические барьеры. Основным орудием является высокоэффективный ускоритель массы, установленный на шарнирную "головную" турель. Орудие способно вести огонь как в режиме поражения живой силы, так и в режиме поражения бронированных целей. Некоторые шагающие танки несут дронов, предположительно выполняющих разведывательные функции. Другие оснащены большим количеством ремонтных микроботов, размеры которых не превышают насекомое. Геты: Прыгуны The geth models collectively dubbed "hoppers" by Alliance forces are electronic warfare platforms. They can project electromagnetic radiation across a broad spectrum as an offensive weapon. They can also perform cyber warfare attacks against the onboard computers of body armor hardsuits and weapons, adversely affecting their performance. The structure of hoppers consist of an advanced and highly elastic artificial muscle material. This allows a hopper to compress its entire body for powerful leaps. Hoppers also have thousands of molecule-scale "barbs" on the surface of their hands and feet, which are used to cling to walls and ceilings. Hoppers are very difficult targets, leaping from one surface to another in rapid succession. The quarians have no record of any geth models similar to hoppers. This new morphotype must have been developed over the last three hundred years by the geth themselves. This is troubling proof that the geth are continuing to move towards technological singularity. Experts in synthetic life are intrigued that hoppers appear to be even more organic than the baseline geth. The identified subtypes of hopper have been codenamed Sapper, Stalker, and Ghost. Кварианцы ---- Кварианцы: Мигрирующий Флот The Migrant Fleet is the largest concentration of starfaring vessels in the galaxy, sprawling across millions of kilometers. It can take days for the entire fleet to pass through a mass relay. When the quarians fled their homeworld, the Fleet was a motley aggregation of freighters, shuttles, industrial vessels, and the odd warship. After three centuries, all have been modified to support larger crews as comfortably as possible. As the quarians achieved stability, they began weeding out the ships least suitable for long-term habitation, selling them and pooling the money to buy larger and more spaceworthy hulls. This process is ongoing, as vessels wear out and break down. While some ships enjoy dedicated cabins with full privacy and sanitary facilities, many more are former freighters, whose cargo bays and containers are pressurized and divided into family spaces using simple metal cubicle bulkheads. The quarians enliven these austere spaces with colorful quilts and tapestries, which also help muffle sound. The day-to-day operation of the fleet - traffic control, station-keeping, supply distribution, and so on - are under military jurisdiction. Though ship captains have the authority to deviate from their assigned positions and may leave the fleet at any time, they are assumed to do so at their own risk. As the Migrant Fleet moves around the galaxy, many ships split off to pursue individual goals, returning days or years later. Кварианцы: Правительство Due to the quarians' precarious existence and the need to enforce strict rationing, government is somewhat autocratic. The Migrant Fleet's operations are directed by the Admiralty, a board of five military officers who are advised by a legislative body called the Conclave. Each vessel in the Fleet has the right to send representatives to the Conclave aboard the flagship. The number of representatives is based on crew size. Larger clans, with bigger ships and more votes, form the cores of political blocs. Opposition comes from the Outriders' Coalition, with delegates from thousands of smaller ships. The Admiralty defers to the Conclave's decisions in most circumstances. However, if all five members agree a Conclave decision jeopardized the survival of the fleet, and cannot get the Conclave to address their concerns, they have the right to summarily overturn the legislative decision. After the Admiralty uses this extraordinary power, they must resign. If the Admiralty does not step down after using their veto the rest of the military is obliged to arrest them. Each ship captain has authority over the vessel, but is advised by an elected civilian Council, just as the Admiralty is advised by the Conclave. This relationship may range from cooperation to polite tolerance to outright hostility, but any captain who overrules his council without good reason is relieved of command by the Admiralty. Many quarian ships are owned by clans who pool their resources to purchase used vessels from private sellers. Large ships are prestigious for big, rich clans, but a small ship means status for a small clan with enough personal wealth to afford a private vessel. Clan vessel captains are not subject to dismissal by the Admiralty; abusive captains are a "family" problem if they do not disrupt the operations of the fleet. Кварианцы: Судебная система и оборона Although the Conclave establishes civil law much as any planet-based democracy, enforcement and trials are more unique. After the flight from the geth, there were few constables to police the millions of civilians aboard the Fleet, so the navy parceled out marine squads to maintain order and enforce the law. Today, quarian marines have evolved training and tactics akin to civilian police, but remain adept at combat in the confined spaces of a starship, and fully under the command of the military. Once taken into custody, the accused is brought before the ship's captain for judgment. While the ship's council may make recommendations, tradition holds that the captain has absolute authority in matters of discipline. Most are lenient, assigning additional or more odious maintenance tasks aboard the ship. Persistent recidivists are "accidentally" left on the next habitable world. This practice of abandoning criminals on other people's planets is a point of friction between the quarians and the systems they pass through. Captains rarely have another choice; with space and resources at a premium, supporting a non-productive prison population is not an option. In the early years, many quarians freighters were armed and used as irregular "privateers". Civilian ships still show a strong preference for armament, making them unpopular targets for pirates. Though they have rebuilt their military, there are still mere hundreds of warships to protect the tens of thousands of ships. The quarian navy follows strict routines of patrol, and takes no chances. If the intent of an approaching ship can't be ascertained, they shoot to kill. Кварианцы: Экономика The Migrant Fleet has little economic base, operating in a state of perpetual "hand-to-mouth". While quarian ships include light manufacturing and assembly plants, they lack heavy industries such as refining and shipbuilding. The fleet has tankers for water purification and oxygen cracking, but with the space-intensive nature of agriculture limits food production. A single disaster could destroy the fragile balance. The quarians earn income in creative ways. Because the government is obliged to provide food, water, air, and medical support for every individual, the Conclave strategically determines the course of the Fleet to bring in resources and income. A species who suspects the Migrant Fleet is heading towards their space often offers a "gift" of surplus starships, fuel, and resources to alter course. As the fleet passes through the a system, swarms of mining vessels work over asteroids for metals and siliceous materials and cometary bodies for water ice and organics. Quarian miners are adept at locating and strip-mining space-borne resources. This sparks conflict with corporations already working the system. Large mining concerns spend millions on lobbyists and public relations portraying the quarians as locusts, devouring the resources of a system before moving on. The greatest asset of the quarians is their rarefied skills. Most are experienced miners. Due to their life of perpetual salvage and repair, they are skilled engineers and technicians. More than once, they very corporations that lobby against the quarians have made back room deals with the Fleet, arranging for skilled quarians to fill space engineering jobs that other species would demand higher wages for. Quarians are widely hated among the working classes. "The quarians are coming to take our jobs" is a common response to the Fleet's approach. Кварианцы: Религия The ancient quarians practiced ancestor worship. Even after abandoning faith for secularism, quarians continued to revere the wisdom of elders. As time passed and technology advanced, they inevitably turned their knowledge to preserving the personalities and memories of the elderly as computer virtual intelligences. These recordings became a repository of knowledge and wisdom, stored in a central databank and available through any extranet connection. They held no illusions that this was like a form of immortality; like all virtual intelligences, their electronically-preserved ancestors were not truly sapient. This was considered a surmountable problem; sapience could surely be reduced to simple mathematics. The quarians began exhaustive research into creating artificial intelligence so they could learn to escape the bounds of mortality and give their ancestral records true awareness. Unfortunately, the life the quarians created did not accept the same truths they did. The geth destroyed the ancestor databanks when they took over. In the centuries since they evacuated their homeworld, most quarians have returned to religion in various forms. Many believe the rise of the geth and the destruction of their 'ancestors' were chastisement for arrogantly forsaking the old ways and venerating self-made idols. Others have a more philosophical outlook, believing their race was indeed arrogant, but no supernatural agency lay behind the geth revolt. Rather, the quarians' actions wrought their own doom. Either way, every quarian would agree that their own hubris cost them their homeworld. Кварианцы: Паломничество When quarians of the Migrant Fleet reach young adulthood, they must leave their birth ship and find a new crew to accept them as permanent residents. To prove themselves, they must recover something of value. This is offered to their prospective captain as proof that they will not be a mere burden on the shoestring resources of the ship. This process is called the Pilgrimage. Stripped of ritual, the Pilgrimage is merely an attempt to maintain genetic diversity within the small, relatively isolated population bases that make up the Migrant Fleet. If the young stayed and married within their birth vessel, the risk of inbreeding would increase sharply. Quarians are surgically fitted with their various immunity-boosted implants in preparation for leaving on Pilgrimage. Having grown within the sterile, controlled environments of the Migrant Fleet ships, quarians have virtually no natural immune system. Кроганы ---- Кроганы: Физиология The krogan evolved in a lethal ecology. Over millions of years, the grim struggle to survive larger predators, virulent disease, and resource scarcity on their homeworld, Tuchanka, turned the lizards into quintessential survivors. Perhaps the most telling indicator of Tuchanka's lethality is the krogan eyes. Although they are a predators species by any standard definition, their eyes evolved to be wide-set, as any Earth prey species like deer and cattle. Krogan eyes have a 240-degree arc of vision, better suited for spotting enemies sneaking up on them than for pursuit. Physically, the krogan are nigh-indestructible, with a tough hide impervious to any melee weapon short of a molecular blade. While they feel pain, it does not affect their ability to concentrate. They have multiple functioning examples of all major organs, and can often survive the loss of one or two of any type. Rather than a nervous system, they have an electrically conductive second circulatory system. A krogan can never be paralyzed - they may lose some fluid, but it can be replaced by the body in time. The hump on krogan's back stores water and fats that help the krogan survive lean times. Large humps are a point of pride; being well-fed implies the krogan is a superior predator. The most widely-known biological feature of the krogan is their incredible birth rate and rapid maturity. Once freed from the hostile cauldron of Tuchanka, the krogan population swelled into a numberless horde. Only the genophage kept them from out-breeding the combined Council races. Now the rare krogan females capable of bringing a child to term are treated like strategic resources: warlords will trade them at diplomacy or (more frequently) fight wars over them. Кроганы: Кровавая ярость Feared throughout the galaxy as nightmarishly violent warriors, the krogan are both aided and hobbled by their legendary "blood rage". In the grip of that madness, krogan become seemingly invincible, but are merely totally unresponsive to pain. "Blood-enraged" krogan fight regardless of injury level, to the extent that krogan shorn of all four limbs continue gnashing past brain death until total somatic death. The supremely resilient, hyper-violent blood rage is the synergy of two aspects of krogan neurology. The first aspect is a positive feedback loop in which adrenalin,also activated by fear or rage, suppresses serotonin, the brain chemical that induces serenity. The second is the over-developed krogan limbic system. In krogan, as in humans, fear or rage shifts mental control from the frontal lobes, responsible for reasoning, to the limbic system, responsible for aggression and survival. During that shift, krogan and humans exhibit diminished capacity for logic and self-control. Prior to the ecological devastation of Tuchanka, blood rage was extremely rare among the krogan. Back then, while all krogan were capable of heightened anger and violence in fight-or-flight scenarios, almost none experienced insensitivity to pain. The one percent who did were those suffering serotonin-suppression. At that time, krogan society regarded the condition as pathological, and medicated or imprisoned sufferers to protect them and society. Following nuclear ecocide four millenia ago, evolution selected only those krogan afflicted with blood rage for survival. Today there is no living memory among the krogan of a life without mindless, murderous fury. Кроганы: Культура The harsh krogan homeworld conditioned the krogan psychology for toughness just as it did the body. Krogan have always had a tendency to be selfish, unsympathetic, and blunt. They respect strength and self-reliance and are neither surprised nor offended by treachery. The weak and selfless do not live long. In their culture, "looking out for number one" is simply a matter of course. After their defeat in the Rebellions, the very concept of krogan leadership was discredited. Where a warlord could once command enough power to bring entire solar systems to heel and become Overlord, these days it is rare for a single leader to have more than 1,000 warriors swear allegiance to him. Most krogan trust and serve no one but themselves. This solitary attitude stems in part from a deep sense of fatalism and futility, a profound social effect of the genophage that caused krogan numbers to dwindle to a relative handful. Not only are they angry that the entire galaxy seems out to get them, the krogan are also generally pessimistic about their race's chances of survival. The surviving krogan see no point to building for the future; there will be no future. The krogan live with an attitude of "kill, pillage, and be selfish, for tomorrow we die." Кроганы: Военная доктрина Traditional krogan tactics were built on attritional mass-unit warfare. Equipped with cheap rugged gear, troop formations were powerful but inflexible. Command and control was very centralized; soldiers in the field who saw a target contacted their commanders behind the lines to arrange fire support. Since the genophage, the krogan can no longer afford the casualties of the old horde attacks. The Battle Masters are a match for any ten soldiers of another species. To a Battle Master, killing is a science. They focus on developing clean, brute-force economy of motion that exploits their brutal strength to incapacitate enemies with a swift single blow of overwhelming power. This change of focus from mass-unit warfare to maximal efficiency has increased employment demand in the fields of security and "muscle for hire". Due to the unsavory reputation of the krogan, most of these jobs are on the far side of the law. Battle Masters are not "spit and polish", but they do believe in being well-armed and equipped, preferably with a gun for each limb. They are callous and brutal, but methodical and disciplined. They use any means at their disposal to achieve their goals, no matter how reprehensible. Hostage-taking and genocide are acceptable means to ensure a quiet occupation with few krogan casualties. The krogan serving with Saren's forces appear to be returning to the old style of mass attritional combat. They also work in close cooperation with supporting geth units, who fill in the roles occupied by combat drones in other armies. Biotics are rare among the krogan. Those that exist are viewed with suspicion and fear. The krogan see this aura of fear as a useful quality for an officer, and often promote them. Combat drones and other high-tech equipment are likewise in short supply. Кроганы: Восстания Кроганов After the Rachni War, the quick-breeding krogan expanded at the expense of their neighbors. Warlords leveraged their veteran soldiers to seize living space while the Council races were still grateful. Over centuries, the krogan conquered world after world. There was always "just one more" needed. When the Council finally demanded withdrawal from the asari colony of Lusia, krogan Overlord Kredak stormed off the Citadel, daring the Council to take their worlds back. But the Council had taken precautions. The finest STG operators and asari huntresses had been drafted into a covert "observation force", the Office of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. The Spectres opened the war with crippling strategic strikes. Krogan planets went dark as computer viruses flooded the extranet. Sabotaged antimatter refineries disappeared in blue-white annihilation. Headquarters stations shattered into orbit-clogging debris, rammed by pre-placed suicide freighters. Still, this only delayed the inevitable. The war would have been lost if not for first contact with the turians, who responded to krogan threats with a prompt declaration of war. Being on the far side of krogan space from the Council, the turians advanced rapidly into the lightly-defended krogan rear areas. The krogan responded by dropping space stations and asteroids on turian colonies. Three worlds were rendered completely uninhabitable. This was precisely the wrong approach to take with the turians. Each is first and foremost a public servant, willing to risk his life to protect his comrades. Rather than increasing public war weariness, krogan tactics stiffened turian resolve. The arrival of turian task forces saved many worlds from the warlords' marauding fleets, but it took the development of the genophage bioweapon to end the war. There were decades of unrest afterwords. Rogue warlords and holdout groups of insurgents refused to surrender, or disappeared into the frontier systems to become pirates. Кроганы: Генофаг The genophage bioweapon was created to end the Krogan Rebellions. From the start, the krogan had overwhelmed the Council. Only timely first contact with the turians saved the Council races. The turians fought the krogans to a standstill, but the sheer weight of krogan numbers indicated the war could not be won through conventional means. The turians collaborated with the salarians to genetically engineer a counter to the rapid breeding of the krogan. The genophage virus gained the energy to replicate by "eating" key genetic sequences. Every cell in every krogan had to be altered for the weapon to be foolproof; otherwise the krogan could have used gene therapy to fix the affected tissues. Once a genophage strain could find no more genes to eat, it would starve and die, limited spin-off mutation and contamination. This "created" genetic flaw is hereditary. The salarians believed the genophage would be used as a deterrent, a position the turians viewed as naive. Once the project was complete, the turians mass produced and deployed it. The krogan homeworld, their colonies, and all occupied worlds were infected. The resulting mutation made only one in a thousand krogan pregnancies carry to term. It did not reduce fertility, but offspring viability. The rare females able to carry children to term became prizes the krogan warlords fought brutal battles over. The krogan are a shadow of their former glory. While the Rebellions took place centuries ago, they are constantly reminded of the horror of the genophage and of their inability to counter it. The release of the genophage is still controversial, bitterly debated in many circles. Коллекционеры: Главный Коллекционер ---- Cerberus xenobiologists believed that until recently that the Collectors were coordinated by a biologically active caste, similar to other insectoid alien species. New evidence suggests the Collectors have a singular commander, a so-called "Collector General" that has never been seen on the battlefield. Instead, it selects its minions as remote platforms for its consciousness in a process that has been likened to a biological hack or a cybernetic version of demonic possession. The Collector General can send a secure signal to any one of its minions, smoothly take control of their motor functions, and awaken their previously dormant biotic potential. In a matter of seconds, even the lowliest Collector drone can be upgraded to a battle-hardened biotic commander. If the Collector dies, the General can simply activate and control another body. Postmortem analysis reveals that this "command signal" relies on cybernetic implants directly installed in the Collectors' cerebellums, but how the technology functions is presently unknown. Coordinating sensory input and motor functions simultaneous with remotely amplifying biotic abilities is beyond the grasp of current human science. Why such an advanced species would be interested in humans is puzzling. More disturbing still, victims of the Collectors say the General has spoken to them and referred to itself by a human name: Harbinger. Жнецы: Воздействие на разум Reaper "indoctrination" is an insidious means of corrupting organic minds, "reprogramming" the brain through physical and psychological conditioning using electromagnetic fields, infrasonic and ultrasonic noise, and other subliminal methods. The Reaper's resulting control over the limbic system leaves the victim highly susceptible to its suggestions. Organics undergoing indoctrination may complain of headaches and buzzing or ringing in their ears. As time passes, they have feelings of "being watched" and hallucinations of "ghostly" presences. Ultimately, the Reaper gains the ability to use the victim's body to amplify its signals, manifesting as "alien" voices in the mind. Indoctrination can create perfect deep cover agents. A Reaper's "suggestions" can manipulate victims into betraying friends, trusting enemies, or viewing the Reaper itself with superstitious awe. Should a Reaper subvert a well-places political or military leader, the resulting chaos can bring down nations. Long-term physical effects of the manipulation are unsustainable, Higher mental functioning decays, ultimately leaving the victim a gibbering animal. Rapid indoctrination is possible, but causes this decay in days or weeks. Slow, patient indoctrination allows the thrall to last for months or years. 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